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Rutger Bregman
@rcbregman
Yglesias is right about this. The reason I spend a lot of my time shouting 'Tax the rich' (instead of 'open borders now!') is that it's popular, backed by sound economics and it also fits my personal preferences / worldview.
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Matthew Yglesias
@mattyglesias
Replying to @mattyglesias
The truth — I am a normal person who thinks Democrats should try hard to win elections by taking popular positions on issues even though sometimes that is at odds with my personal preferences.
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David Watson 🥑
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David Watson 🥑
@FifthRocket
I think this is easy to do when we’re talking about a single policy, but people get more squeamish when it comes to support for a politician who holds a mix of positions. How do you decide when their other policies are a bridge too far?
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John Champagne
@TallPhilosopher
Would it help to reduce the resistance that ppl have to paying taxes if each person could decide to stop their money from going to things that they think are harmful or wasteful, provided that they move the money toward support of things that most ppl agree ar better for society?
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Jakerz
@Jak_erz
Yea but a knock on Yglesias and abundance is that the popularity of the issue matters too. Getting rid of Zoning laws is good policy but a fraction of people cares about that compared to healthcare and taxing the rich. Yglesias spends a lot of time centering his pet issues
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GH89
@GBHutch89
Can responsible spending of tax revenue be part of your worldview? Anything about public sector corruption?
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Storey
@Storey33
"Open boarders now!" is just some bullshit right wing bigots lob at anyone disagreeing with a draconian bigoted closing of the border. Most on the left want humane, functional borders. Parroting the bullshit only benefits the bigots. Do better.
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Brent Swenson
@BrentSwenson2
Very sound reasoning. I presume then that if you lived in a predominantly Muslim country, you would shout, "Kill all infidels"...because it would be popular. You just want to be one of the guys after all.
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Darius Gall
@GallTalksD
How many migrants should be able to relocate to the west? If there are more applicants than spaces why aren't you just as evil as the "close borders bigots"?
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Helo 🇺🇦 🧢
@HermanLo
You know why politicians don't do it though? Because they are followers and they follow the most noisy part of society like DEI and BLM - small minorities stupidly taking them for the majority of people.
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